Demountable baby walker



April 28, 1953 F. w. FRUITMAN 2,636,546

DEMOUNTABLE BABY WALKER Filed April 5, 1949 llYVE/YTOB, fkA/YK M 520/ TMA/Y ATTOE/YE)! Patented Apr. 28, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEMOUNTABLE BABY WALKER Frank w. Fruitman, Tucson, Ariz.

Application April 5, 1949, Serial No. 85,684 i 1 Claim.

1 The present invention relate to a baby walker of the type which may be easily assembled and disassembled.

An object of the invention is the provision of a baby walker of simple construction wherein many of the parts when disassembled may be confined to a small space, which does not require locking means for maintaining the parts in assembled position, is rigid of construction when the parts are assembled, and generally superior to devices of the character stated, now known to the inventor.

In the simplest embodiment of my invention, I have provided a series of tubes of identical length which cooperate with fittings, the arrangement being such that all of the tubes when joined by the fittings are maintained in a stressed relationship, and which relationship effectively holds the parts in cooperative engagement.

The inventionalso contemplates a seat member carried between certain of the tubes for supporting the baby in such a manner that the feet may touch the floor, or other supporting structure whereby the baby may move the walke to different locations.

An object of the invention is a seat structure which is readily detachable from the supporting structure to permit the seat to be utilized in supporting or carrying the baby by means other than the walker structure.

A further object is a seat structure which may be easily detachable from the walker structure to permit the seat to be utilized as a hand carrier for the child.

Other objects include a baby walker which is inexpensive in cost of manufacture, and generally superior to devices now known to the inventor.

With the above mentioned and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel, useful provision, formation, construction, association and relative arrangement of parts, members and features, all as shown in one embodiment in the accompanying drawing, described generally and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view, partly in fragment, of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary exploded view of certain elements of the frame structure of the invention; and

Figure 3 is'a top plan view of the frame structure of the invention.

Referring now with particularity to the drawing, the improved device of the invention as shown in Figure 1, includes a top frame member I, a bottom frame member 2 with interconnecting struts 3 between the top and bottom frame members. The top frame member is adapted to carry a seat member 4.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the elements which make up the top and bottom frames, as well as the struts, are substan--' tially of the same length and diameter. Thus, the top frame I has four tubular members 5, 6, '1 and 8 which are interconnected by means of fit-' tings or joints designated generally as 9. These joints are detailed in Figure 2 wherein it will be seen that each joint includes a post l0 carrying at one end a cross piece II, the arms of'which are in angular relationship, the angle being substantially A post I0 of each fitting 9 is telescopically received within an end of a tubular strut 3, while the contiguous end of two tubu-' lar members telescopically receive the arms of the cross piece. The angle between post I!) and each of the arms of cross piece H is substantially 90.

The bottom frame member 2 is not square in outline, but is substantially a pentagon, although one side of the pentagon i not equal to the other four sides. Thus, the tubular members of the bottom frame shown at All, 4!, l2 and I3 are of the same length and diameter as the tubular members of the top frame member. The interconnecting fitting M between the tubular mem bers l0 and I3 has a portion l5 substantially half the length more or less of one of the tubular members of the bottom frame. Ends I Band I! of fitting M are at an angle to portion l5 and are adapted to be received within the tubular members 4i] and I3. A post l8 extends at right angles to the portion l5 of the fitting, and said post is received within one of the struts 3. The fitting I4 is provided with a pair of depending stems l9 and 20 which casters 2| and 22 are socketed. The remaining corner fittings joining the tubular members of the bottom frame are of identical construction and designated as entireties as 23. These fittings resemble the fittings shown in Figure 2 at 9, save and except that the fittings are provided with casters 24. To accomplish this, a post extends on both sides of a cross piece, so as to provide a stem for reception in the socket portion of a caster.

The seat 4 may be formed of any material such as of fabric, the said seat having openings at 25 and 26 through which the legs of the infant may be passed, the remaining portion of the seat forming an enclosure with four side walls 21, 28, 29 and 30. The top edge of each side of the seat is provided with a flap 3|, which flaps are held to the sides by means of quick detachable elements designated generally as 32, such as the well-known snap fasteners. The flaps and the sides encase a member such as a rod 33 in the form of a square. Between the corners of the rod and the sides of the top frame are loop fasteners, designated generally as 34. The loop fasteners are held by means of snaps, or other quick detachable means 35.

The operation, use and advantages of the invention just described areas follows:

The present device does not utilize any locking means between the fittings and the tubes of the frame structures, due to the geometrical forms thereof. The tubes and the fittings icoengage in such a manner that the parts are under a stress sufiicient to hold the same in working relationship. The pentagonal torm of the lower frame member with relation to the square form of the upper frame member, to!- gether with the interconnecting struts 3 and fittings .;9 causes the struts and the tubes of the frame members to be under stress. This stress is sumcient to hold various tubular members in engagement with the fittings without fear of the frame members coming apart or separating. This is .a .clistinct advantage from an economy standpoint, and likewise from an erecting standpoint, for the reason that screw threads and various locking screws are done away with.

All-of the tubular members of both the upper and lower frame members I and 2, as wellas the strut members are of identical length, with the result that the device is easily disassembled, and the tubular members bundled. It will be observed that the bundle will comprise but twelve tubular members. Thus, assuming that each tubular member is of one-quarter inch diameter, the complete bundle would have a three-inch diameter. Hence, the device of the invention is easily packed or stored, and is convenient to care ry on trips, as the device would occupy a small space in knock-down form.

The fitting i l and specifically the length i5 thereof acts as one side of the lower frame member. It is because of the pentagonal form of the lower frame with relation to the square upper frame member when interconnected by the struts and fittings that the various tube members are stressed. It will be noted that the basic feature of this invention resides in the fact that certain precletermined .angles would exist be: tween the several tubular members of the walker if assembled unstressed in a shape generally similar to that illustrated in Fig. 1. These angles are not the same as the corresponding angles fixedly formed between .the elements of the fittings. For example, the angle between post 10 and each arm II is smaller than the angle which would be formed between tubular members 3 and I or 3 and 8 were these members to be assembled, unstressed, in the geometrical configuration shown. The seat 4 is quickly detached from the upper frame by releasing the snaps of the loop fasteners 34, in which event, the seat may be carried by two persons, as the rod 33 will maintain the seat form. If it is desired to clean the seat, the seat is released from the rod 33 by unsnapping the flaps 3 i.

'Fig. 1 clearly shows that, when assembled, the normally straight struts and tubular members are no longer straight due to the bending stress caused by assembly. This stress and curvature efiectively lock the structure against inadvertent disassembly. In order to remount the structure a. further bending stress must be applied to the tubular members and struts, thereby substantially decreasing the friction of the telescopicengagementcf the various members.

In actual practice, the invention is found .to be convenient to use, quickly erected. or disassembled and to perform in an efiicientmanner.

I claim:

A demountable frame assembly for use in a baby walker including an endless top frame and an endless bottom frame, each comprising a plurality of similar tubes and a plurality of an.- gu-late fittings each having an arm telescopically engaged in one end of each tube of an adjacent pair of tubes; a tubular strut extending betweenthe frames at each pair of corresponding fittings; a post on each fitting of each frame projecting toward the corresponding fittings of the other frame and telescopically engaged in one end of a corresponding strut the several angles between the arms and post of each fitting difiering from the corresponding angles which would be formed between struts and tubes assembled in unstressed relation; whereby each tube and strut is sub.- jected to a bending stress when assembled.

FRANK W. FRUITMAN.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES- PATENTS Number Name Date 2,278,901 Smock Apr. "7, 1942 .EQREIGN vHA1?.ENTES Number Country Date 570,507 Great Britain July 10, 1945 362,456 Italy Aug. 25, 1-938 225,320 Switzerland Apr..16;, i943 

